101 Things That Can Harm Your Cat

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emilymaywilcha

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One more thing that should be on there: Bags with loop handles. Once Patricia put her head through a Bath and Body Works bag handle. The next thing she did was run around the house with a bag on her neck, too scared to let me help her get it off. If you shop at BABW or another store with the same kind of bag, CUT THE HANDLES OFF!
 

Willowy

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This is an old thread!

Anyway, if you notice, even though the thread is entitled "101 things that can harm your cat", the actual article referenced sats "your PET". So, yeah, some dogs eat socks and towels and get blocked. But dogs are weird that way. I imagine there's a cat somewhere who eats socks, but I don't think it's very common.
 

mrsh

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One more thing that should be on there: Bags with loop handles. Once Patricia put her head through a Bath and Body Works bag handle. The next thing she did was run around the house with a bag on her neck, too scared to let me help her get it off. If you shop at BABW or another store with the same kind of bag, CUT THE HANDLES OFF!
Zach did this with a plastic grocery bag on the counter that he peeked into. He ended up with his head trapped in it, tearing around the house and smashing into things. We flatten out all the bags now because all the cats love laying on them. But no "open" bags they can get in.
 

pushylady

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Zach did this with a plastic grocery bag on the counter that he peeked into. He ended up with his head trapped in it, tearing around the house and smashing into things. We flatten out all the bags now because all the cats love laying on them. But no "open" bags they can get in.
Our cat Pushkin did the same thing once. Raced around in a panic and was so scared he peed himself. Now we squish plastic bags up and put them into container for reusing.
 

emilymaywilcha

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Zach did this with a plastic grocery bag on the counter that he peeked into. He ended up with his head trapped in it, tearing around the house and smashing into things. We flatten out all the bags now because all the cats love laying on them. But no "open" bags they can get in.
Emily loved to lick and lie on plastic bags but she never tried to put her head through a hole (unless you count the zillion times she dug rubber bands out of the trash!) so I did not worry about them. But just because my mom gets them every time she shops, she bought a silver thing to attach to a cabinet door for storing and dispensing plastic bags. Of course, some are stored next to the litterboxes.

BTW I never worried about rubber bands because she never chewed them, just carried them to her food bowl and ate the kibbles.
 
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mewlittle

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i seen some stuff not posted grape seeds, apple seeds, potatoe skins, tomatoes all forms, aspertam<any fake sugars, milk dairy, alcohol causes seziers, brewers yeast , rubbing alcohol if in eyes ears nose inhaled or drinked aand to much on skin is bad to do not use rubbing alcohol with out vets promission , theres more i just can't think of any right know
 

mewlittle

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This is an old thread!
Anyway, if you notice, even though the thread is entitled "101 things that can harm your cat", the actual article referenced sats "your PET". So, yeah, some dogs eat socks and towels and get blocked. But dogs are weird that way. I imagine there's a cat somewhere who eats socks, but I don't think it's very common.
there was a cat that ate a part of a panty holes<how ever its spelled saw it on the TV oh and a cat swalloed a tv bunny ears
 

fluffybutdeadly

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On that list is mouldy food. No offense to anyone who may have done it in the past, but, would you give mouldy food to your children? No, so why should you give it to your cats?
Well our cats sometimes tried to eat out of the compost bin... But we didn't offer it to them.
 

taz mom

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I know this is an old thread, but I'm new here and was told to check out the list.  WOW!  I had no idea so many things could be harmful to my cat.  My little Taz man likes to steal socks and plays fetch with my mom with them.  He enjoys them so much I'd hate to take them away from him.  I've bought several cat toys from the store and he may get excited about them the first time he's introduced, but afterwards he loses interest.  Now I have a bunch of cat toys that he doesn't play with. 

I also noticed that sweets were not good as well.  My kitty will occassionally steal my mom's fortune cookies, are those bad?  They don't put ingredient lists on those, so I have no idea what's in them. 

One thing my kitty has a tendency to do is chew on our shoes.  There's something about the rubber or foam that is on the bottom of my mom's shoes and my flip flops.  He'll pull those out and chew on them.  I don't always see him doing it and I try to keep them out of his reach, but he finds a way sometimes. 

We also were told or maybe we read it somewhere that cats liked to play with tennis balls, so is that not good either?  I'm suprised feathers weren't on the list since I know my cat has pulled several of those out of his toys and for all I know has eaten those as well.

Taz Mom
 

harleydiva

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Socks are on that list - I have been wondering for days how socks could be dangerous. Adult socks are too big to be swallowed and I wonder what possible scenario involving socks could be dangerous. Baby socks perhaps, but not UK adult size 6-8 socks.
I almost lost an airedale many years ago because she ate panty hose.  The vet made one more attempt before resorting to surgery....he managed to get the panty hose from the "rear exit" and extracted them.  He told me he was going to put them in a ziploc bag and send them to his ex-wife...lol.  The vet and I got to be pretty good friends through all of the phone calls when the dog ate weird stuff.  She ate a 90 minute cassette tape one time.....I got to pull all 90 minutes out, inch by inch.
 

subrosa

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4th OF JULY
83. Fireworks - Fireworks can scare your pets making them run off, or cause serious injuries if detonated near them. Many formulations are also toxic if ingested.
Omg this 4th of July, I was so angry at how many people brought their dogs to a local fireworks show. It happens every year and its on the smaller side so people by now should know that the fireworks are being set off so close, the noise is beyond loud. I'm talking loud enough to startle full grown adults into peeing their pants, let alone small children and dogs. The worst part was that I saw droves of panicked dogs off-the-leash and running away from the sounds and smoke. They were yelping and booking-it across the street, which was of course jam-packed with traffic. I saw one poor pitbull get hit by a car; the owner was nowhere in site. The injured dog just kept running, limping away by itself. It was a totally preventable nightmare.
 

mservant

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Think these lists are invaluable, esp. for people new to letting cats in  to their homes but for some of us oldies too. They are much more comprehensive than any I have found in the past and answer a specific concern I had about Gladioli:  When he was about 8 months old Mouse raided a bunch within seconds of it arriving in my home and rapidly took on a rather 'spaced' slant. He will do anything to get to plant life in my home and I've given up on all plants and flowers. The stress and mess just isn't worth it.

Other than knives there isn't much said about sharp objects, or candles.  From unfortunate but not fatal experiences these require careful consideration and supervision... Ornaments with pointed or sharp protrusions can seriously hurt your cat if they run in to or land on them from a jump.

Candles are, fairly obviously, a risk when lit as your cat can get burned but they can also knock them over when playing  (most risk with blind cats - in fact it's how I learned one of my cats had gradually lost its sight. She left me with a lovely red wax splatter on my sitting room wall long after she had moved on).  Depending on their shape they can also fall in to the sharp category if your cat is jumping about.  May come in to the freak accident category but believe me - it can happen and I am sure the injury was significantly more painful than the vet bill it incurred. I now have a dinner candle free home - lit or unlit, and a cat with one nickname of 'Scar butt'. 
 Actually life with Mouse has been very educational. For the first year I ended up with a pretty much padded, ornament free home. I still have electrical appliances unplugged, toilet lid down, bathroom out of bounds unless supervised, cupboard and appliance doors closed, doors and windows closed, plastic bags tied in knot and tidied away, anything resembling string or ribbon locked out of sight, and all knives, scissors, and pens/pencils tidied out of prying paws' way and never take my eyes off the cooker when I've got anything on the hob. No hope of a Christmas tree in this house for some years to come.
 
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meowgirl

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Great info. A lot of these I wasn't aware of. I think I should print this out and put it on the fridge just as a reminder.
 

paws4life

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66. Washer and Dryer - Your pets can crawl into a washer or dryer without your knowledge; close the doors to these appliances when youâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]re not using them.


- I found my cats like to sleep in there I'm always afraid my SO will forget to check the dryer or leave it open. Yikes!
 

dean23

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So basically anything and everything? Should I wrap my cat in bubble wrap and get her a mini Japanese anti-polution style mask?

Luckily, my cat is a trooper.
 

mservant

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So basically anything and everything? Should I wrap my cat in bubble wrap and get her a mini Japanese anti-polution style mask?

Luckily, my cat is a trooper.
Yey, my cat's such a trooper I suspect he'd wrap himself in the bubble wrap if I left it out! 
   What he needs is a cat straight jacket but I'd miss the laughs I have at all his scrapes.
 

slendercat

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My cat loves chocolate. And so do my dogs for some wired reason but we never give it to them on purpose. Sometimes the nick it. They're all quite smart. P.s my dogs are a border collie and a cairn terrier I love animals woo!
 

tommy

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I think only the "other" ingredients. In fact, I had heard that cats and dogs could and would eat red peppers, jalapenos, etc.., because they lack the ability to taste the "heat". Did I hear incorrectly?
 

heatherh

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Thanks for the helpful info. There are alot of things that I was unaware of. One of my kitties loves fruit. Mostly he likes to lick all the juice, but once in awhile he'll take a few chomps. I def keep in mind the grapes and raisens. :)
 

realhumans

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102.  Rain water or unpurified puddle/ground water.  It can have bacteria in it like Giardia (from cattle) and it can cause bad diarrhea, which you then have to treat with a strong antibiotic that makes them quite ill and unable to eat.  It happened to me with Flagyl.  Very tough med and she stopped eating.  .
 
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